Meet The “Helpful Councillor”

By the time I’ve typed up everything onto the computer it’s about 2pm, so I head straight round to the Helpful Councillors Estate Agency with copies of all the details.

It’s quite a posh Estate Agency - Ringhams - and the Helpful Councillor is busy on the phone when I arrive, so I leaf through some of the magazines full of estate agents’ adverts he’s got in the office and see how much they cost around here. He’s also got the Chronicle and I have a look through there to see if there’s anything about this new policy BANES have apparently adopted. There isn’t. There’s just something about a swarm of wasps.

After a while Mr. Ringham cups his hand over the reciever and ask me whether it’s him I’m there to see, is it about a rental? I guess I don’t look the type to be one of his housebuyers and I say don’t worry mate I’ve got plenty of time, finish your conversation. So he does, and then I begin to tell him my story.

Mr Ringham - Mick - is sympathetic but says he’s a councillor for Landsdown and so can’t help. He is apparently not very surprise at the behaviour of our local public servants, and implies that he thinks some Council officers are out of control. He says BANES is “an officer-led” council. He says I must call one of the City Centre Councillors, and he gives me their names. Their names are Sarah Webb (usually very helpful apparently but on holiday for the next three weeks, so not much good) and Brian Webber.

Oh, he says and you could mention it to Don Foster, he’s in town at the moment. That’s a good idea I think. Foster seems ok, and is always friendly, so I trundle off to James Street West and drop my story and the documents in for Don.

Foster is elsewhere when I call, but Cat his assistant says he’s due back soon so I say thats ok, I don’t need any action from him just now I just want to let him know what’s going on in his constituency and I say don’t want to spend the night in jail, cheerio.

By now it’s about 4.30 and I’ve been trying to sort this out all day. Next stop Guildhall Records Office to see if they’ve got a copy of the 1881 and 1871 Pedlars’ acts. They have. Their copy looks like these jpegs (click on any page to see it bigger)

The next day I see Sue again and we have a laugh and say yep, they’ve gotta be joking, but it turns out the cops have been round hassling people again. They’ve made the Appy Daze stall go away and Favi has been told she’s not allowed to use wheels on her jewelry stall.

Without her wheels, Faviola is now a struggling retailer herself, as she’s having to carry a huge display board on her shoulder, and having to prop it up on street furniture whenever someone wants to look at her jewelry. I tell here don’t worry, you can use wheels, look, and show her the copies of the documents I’ve collected.

Then Bob from Appy Daze comes along and goes off to photocopy my copy of the ’71 and ’81 Acts. He’s a bit miffed because he is already paying business rates and council tax and all that because he’s got a shop in Walcot Street. He comes back later after talking to a solicitor, and apparently the cops or the council havn’t got a leg to stand on. Next time we get any bollocks from the Council we have been advised to ask them “Which piece of statutary legislation are you relying on to prevent me peddling my wares”.

That night I see a copy of our notoriously unreliable local paper and one page looks like this:

The story reads:

POLICE TO CRACK DOWN ON UNLICENSED TRADERS BY TOM BRADSHAW 11:00 - 19 August 2004 Police are launching a crackdown on unlicensed street traders, following an influx of peddlers to the city from across the country. Hawkers from as far afield as London and Derbyshire, selling everything from cheap jewellery to henna tattoos, have descended on the city. But officers say many of the peddlers, most of whom tout their wares in Stall Street and Abbey Church Yard, are breaking the terms of their licences by using stands. It costs �5,000 annually to have a Bath and North East Somerset Council street trading licence, which entitles the owner to have a stall on the pavement. However, officers say peddlers are paying for the much cheaper police-issued peddler’s certificate, and then using it as though it were a full street trading licence. The �12.25 peddler’s certificate allows the bearer to sell goods in the city only if he or she does not set up a stationary stall. But Pc Richard Durnford, a beat manager in Bath city centre, who is overseeing the clampdown on illegal street traders, said that the hawkers were flouting the terms of their certificates by not constantly moving. On Tuesday, Pc Durnford warned eight peddlers that they were breaking the law and faced prosecution by B &NES if they refused to mend their ways. He said: “It’s become clear that the peddlers are migrating from everywhere to come to Bath. “We’ve had quite a few complaints about them recently. “If people come to Georgian Bath, they don’t want to see somebody selling jokes out of plastic coffins on some kind of porter’s trolley. “We have had some reports from the public that they really don’t like this. “If the peddlers are not obeying the law, we will pass the details on to Bath and North East Somerset Council. “Once they get the message that Bath isn’t a soft touch, then they will either have to get shipshape or get shipped out.” Insp Paul Mogg, of Bath police, said: “We are being tougher in terms of the certificates that we grant. “We are cracking down and making sure that the peddlers don’t go out and act as street traders.” A spokesman for the council said: “There is ongoing communication between ourselves and the police about this issue. “There have been a couple more prosecutions this year compared to last year.” [email protected]

The story is riddled with inaccuracies and prejudice. Apart from anything else, Bob from Appy Daze is pissed off because they are talking about his coffin, and it is made of wood (not plastic) and he doesn’t sell jokes, he sells “Smoking paraphernalia for novelty purposes only”.

 

The bullying continues